Ramage's Challenge [Hardcover]

Dudley Pope (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 1985

Admiralty spies are hunting for British officers and allies trapped on the mainland, among them Ramage's first love, Gianna, the Marchesa di Volterra. Ramage returns to the Tuscan coast, where Bonaparte holds a group of hostages for an unknown fate.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Takes over the helm from Hornblower. -- Daily Mirror --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

Dudley Pope is well known, both as the creator of the Ramage novels and as a distinguished naval historian. Pope falsified his age in order to enlist in the British Merchant Navy during World War II. In action, his ship was torpedoed and he spent 14 days at sea in an open lifeboat. After being discharged due to the injuries he received, he worked as the naval and defense correspondent at the London Daily News. He turned to writing fiction at the urging of C. S. Forester, who viewed Pope as his creative heir. Author of ten scholarly works as well as the 18 books in the Ramage series, Dudley Pope died in 1997. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd; First Edition edition (August 27, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0436377462
• ISBN-13: 978-0436377464
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,361,874 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Should be renamed "READER'S Challenge", June 26, 2008

By 

Dr J (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ramage's Challenge (The Lord Ramage Novels) (Volume 15) (Paperback)

This is one of the oddest books I've read in the Royal Navy genre. Pope must have been out to lunch when he wrote this one. There are three things that make this such a weak book. First, Pope keeps repeating himself. We're told something, and a few pages later, we get exactly the same thing. Did Pope just forget what he had written? Although this series really needs to be read in order, Pope does give enough review in each book for each to be read by itself. But within the same book?

Secondly, the premise of the story is just not very interesting; Ramage is sent out to rescue some admirals, generals, and lords who were vacationing in France during the peace and are captured and interned in Italy. He rescues the men through a ruse, but their wives are kept somewhere else (more about this later). The battle is good, but too short. And ya gotta read a LOT to get to the short battle. All in all, it's just not very interesting. Finally, execution of the story is absolutely ridiculous. Ramage has orders from on high to rescue the officials--no mention of their wives. After the initial rescue, he has followed his orders to the letter of the law and can return to England. The question remains whether he'll rescue the wives as well. The silly part is that none, not one, of the men try to take over or even convince him to do so! Even the admiral sits by and watches Ramage mull everything over in his mind. Either these guys are fools or don't care much about their wives. I don't know many men who would just let their wives rot in jail--wouldn't every guy pull rank (orders be damned!), take over the ship and rescue his wife? Of course! The whole thing is just plain silly.

Repetition, dullness, and silliness make this a weak, very weak, book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not up to the usual Pope standards, March 6, 2011

By 

JW (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ramage's Challenge (The Lord Ramage Novels) (Volume 15) (Paperback)

Oh Mr. Pope - not up to your usual standards. Had yourself a nice visit to Italy, hmmm? Decided to share your knowledge with us? Only problem is - we're expecting a *nautical fiction* series, not an Italian travelogue. First half of the book expounds on the history, current customs, agricultural practices and land formations of Tuscany. B-o-r-i-n-g. Seems as if Mr. Pope wrote himself into a corner when Sarah's ship goes missing during Ramage #14 and he had only a short story's worth of idea of how Ramage could get her back. Once we got down to the hostage-rescuing action at sea, things were fine, but boy did we have to wade through junk to get there. No joke, first half of book is on land and nothing happens. All of the Ramage books have short explanations of previous events so that a reader can pick up any book and follow the plot, but as you read further into the series, these repeats become tiresome, especially when the stuff being repeated doesn't seem important. Do we really need to know about the various winds in the Med, again, or Southwick's prowess with his two-handed sword, which he uses only once in this book, and "off-camera" to boot? It's almost as if Mr. Pope has a list of things to include in every book, with no regard as to whether or not the info is important to a reader's understanding of that particular book. Overall, my advice to folks reading the series - you can skip this one without missing anything - there's no character development, we don't learn anything more about Ramage or Sarah or any of the guys. Just go directly from Ramage #14 to #16, and accept that, through the magic of fiction, Sarah is back. Oh and P.S., that LT Hill, the new LT from the mutiny trial, is a good guy (we do learn that in this book). Or, as another reviewer suggested, just read the last half, starting from Chapter 12.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Weak link in the Ramage chain, October 12, 2002

By 

James L. Duppenthaler (Geneva, Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ramage's Challenge (The Lord Ramage Novels) (Volume 15) (Paperback)

I've read all the Ramage novels and I'm a fan. This is just a friendly suggestion to the reader that when you get to this one you might consider to proceed rapidly through the first half of the book. Read the first sentence of each paragraph and then decide whether to read the whole paragraph or not. The author gets especially carried away with descriptions of things we, the seeker of naval action, don't give a damn about -- local vegetation, birds, geographical names (and their histories). Mr Pope can be forgiven for waxing on about his interests (because he has given us so many exciting stories up to this point), but I voted to pass up large portions.

Make no mistake, the exciting part does eventually arrive, but even then is a bit rushed and abbreviated. And, the ending definitely leaves a bunch of loose threads (e.g., what happens to the duel between Ramage and the obnoxious General?).